South Carolina Football: Intriguing linebacker prospect visiting Gamecocks today

South Carolina football is in the middle of spring practice right now, and recruits have been checking out the program during these early practices. Some of these prospects announce these visits, while others just show up on campus without letting anyone outside of the coaching staff know they are coming.

One announced visitor who is slated for a Tuesday trip to Columbia is intriguing linebacker Antoine Deslauriers. Deslauriers announced on Twitter/X on Tuesday morning that he would be around later in the day.

Deslauriers is a class of 2025 recruit originally from Montreal, Canada who now plays high school ball at Rabun Gap-Nacoochee School. If that high school sounds familiar to Gamecock fans, it might be because '25 tight end Marshall Pritchett (who recently committed to the North Carolina Tar Heels but showed interest in USC, as well) attends Rabun Gap-Nacoochee.

Coming from Canada, Deslauriers was late on the recruiting rankings scene. He is a 3-star prospect according to On3 but has not been given a rating by the other major recruiting outlets, though, that likely will change before his recruitment is complete.

Deslauriers is listed at 6'1" and 225 pounds but seems bigger than that on film. He is strong and delivers huge hits in the open field. He does not appear to be a very fluid athlete, but he is a good straight-line runner who shows enough speed on film to chase down skill position players and play sideline-to-sideline as a tackler.

He is aggressive coming downhill, whether it is in run support or when getting a chance to get after the quarterback. He is not a passive player, at all, and the thumper shows good block-avoidance instincts.

There is not much film of him in coverage, and based on his skillset and athleticism, he likely has a fair amount of work to do as a coverage player. He does have some experience playing on special teams, and his size and speed could translate to solid special teams performance at the college level.

Back in the fall, Deslauriers listed the Gamecocks as one of his top-3 schools (along with the Ole Miss Rebels and Oklahoma Sooners), but the list was not a "final 3," indicating that change was possible. He has also shown interest in the North Carolina Tar Heels, Florida State Seminoles, and a long list of other schools from power conferences.

You can watch some of his film here.